Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
Brig. General Carolyn Protzmann speaks with Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter inside of a air traffic control tower at the Air National Guard Base Thursday during a tour.

PORTSMOUTH — Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter toured Pease Air National Guard Base Thursday morning showing her support for workers during sequestration talks and her support for the base, one of just five bases in the running to receive a KC-46A refueling tanker.

While viewing the air traffic control tower and what will be the new squadron operations building in May, Shea-Porter spoke, alongside Brig. Gen. Carol Protzmann, assistant adjutant general for the New Hampshire Air National Guard and Col. Paul Hutchinson, commander of the 157th Air Refueling Wing, on the negative impacts sequestration would have on the employees at Pease.

“We are talking about people's lives here. This is an income as well and they have relied on it,” Shea-Porter said of the civilian employees who could see two weeks without pay due to furloughs.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon cut the number of unpaid furlough days from 22 to 14, reducing the amount of budget cuts, but still keeping sequestration intact and on the minds of many people.

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Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
A view from inside the air traffic control tower at the Air National Guard Base Thursday during a tour that included Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter.

“We have tried to stop it repeatedly and we continue to try to do that,” Shea-Porter said. “This is a challenge in Washington right now.”

The challenge, she said, comes from so many bills being created to cancel the sequester that cannot get to the floor right away.

“… My responsibility, that I take very seriously, is to go back to Washington and talk to all of my colleagues about the impact happening here and at the yard,” Shea-Porter said, adding that while talking to personnel on the base, they continued to tell her how the sequester is of concern to them.

“And that is one of the reasons why I am here, to see the impact that it will have and hear their stories,” she said.

Protzmann said military technicians on base would feel sequestration the most.

“Here at Pease, about one-third of our full-time force is military technicians,” she said, that the hit they would feel is “significant” and “something they have not planned for.”

“… To suddenly pull back some of their pay that they have earned is just wrong,” Shea-Porter said.

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Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter speaks with the media at a new Air National Guard building at Pease Thursday that is set to be completed this summer.

Ed Fish, air traffic control manager for the New Hampshire Air National Guard 260th Air Traffic Control Squadron at Pease, said their control tower would not be affected by cuts, layoffs or closing this time around.

“I will manage my people so that we will run our towers 24 hours a day seven days a week,” he said. “Some towers are closing and reducing hours, but we kind of put forth a plan in our wing that we can manage our people efficiently enough. It isn't going to affect us right now and I don't expect that it would.”

While sequestration cuts remain ongoing, Pease is continuing to build new buildings, something Hutchinson said needs to be done and has helped them become a finalist in energy efficiency and conservation.

“… Protecting our resources and providing some buildings that are technologically advanced for those folks that are on missions for us every day, it is something we need to invest in the future for in the long run,” he said, adding the buildings being reconstructed are more than 50 years old.

Shea-Porter placed a hard hat on her head and peeked in the squadron operations building, which is expected to be finished by late spring of this year. The building will be used, ultimately, to maintain future operations.

“We ask these men and women to serve and we need to provide them the facilities that are worthy of their sacrifice,” Shea-Porter said inside the building.

When asked if building this facility “ups” Pease's chances of receiving the KC-46A refueling tanker, Protzmann smiled and said, “It doesn't hurt us.” However, the need for the building came before talks of the plane.

The KC-46A will not necessarily replace the KC-135 tankers built in the 1950s that operate out of Pease today, as Protzmann said these have 20 to 25 more years of life left to them.

However, she said the KC-46A is a “much more efficient platform for us to operate on, much more efficient for us to operate with,” enhancing capabilities for global missions.

Hutchinson said the new plane would also lessen the cost of operation and provide higher utilization, adding, too, that Pease stands out among the other bases because of its location. He said the tanker would not only be beneficial to Pease, but said it would be “good for the country.”

Shea-Porter is optimistic Pease will be the base chosen for the new tanker. She said the investment in infrastructure along with the base having so many of the requirements for the plane is “helpful.”

In January, the Air Force announced Pease was one of five Air National Guard finalists for the tanker, according to a public statement. While the Air Force conducts site surveys of each base, Shea-Porter said, according to a public statement, that Pease has been at the forefront of innovation and change, “and that it combines a strategic location with efficient and effective operational results.”

“Pease's outstanding facility and resources, along with its proximity to refueling tracks and training infrastructure make it an ideal candidate for the KC-46A tanker,” the press release states.

In a letter to Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Clarke III, director of Air National Guard, Shea-Porter joined U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Congresswoman Ann Kuster, N.H. Dist. 2, to also add that Pease's location, mature and “well-performing” active duty and its high aircraft utilization rates “make it the ideal, cost effective Air National Guard solution for the KC-46A.”

The other four bases are in Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

According to the U.S. Air Force public affairs, the Air Force plans to announce the preferred and alternative bases this spring and the aircraft will be delivered in fiscal year 2018.